Nominations for the 2009 Teen Choice Awards have been announced, and the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film has been given a nod in the best Summer Movie: Action/Adventure category.  The sixth Potter film has been nominated in this category along side such other summer action films as Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Terminator Salvation, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Voting for the 2009 Teen Choice Awards is open to US residents between the ages of 13 and 19, and runs through August 1st, 2009.  Those interested may cast up to one vote in each category daily.

Thanks Sindi!

Media reports were quick to trumpet the news that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince slipped to number two at domestic box office sales, with the new Disney film “G-Force” nabbing the top spot.  Variety reports however that HBP continues to do remarkably well both domestic and notably on the international front as the industry magazine reports: “Half-Blood Prince” remained the worldwide leader, earning a magical $84.4 million internationally for a total haul of $627.1 million. That’s the top pace for the “Potter” franchise. Domestic gross was an estimated $30 million from 4,325 runs.

The LA Times also points out that while HBP “declined 61%. 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” which also opened on a Wednesday in July, fell 57.8% on its second weekend. As of Sunday, the total domestic gross for “Half-Blood Prince” was $221.8 million. Accounting for the 9% rise in ticket prices over the last two years, that puts it about $5 million behind “Order of the Phoenix” at the same point. The new movie does have one disadvantage, however: It’s playing at only four Imax locations, whereas “Order of the Phoenix” was at 91. The large-size screens carry higher ticket prices and tend to lose business at a slow pace.” The newspaper also reminds us that this week, Half-Blood Prince will indeed be opening on 162 IMAX screens.

Finally the newspaper says that HBP “cost $250 million to produce and about $155 million to market and distribute. Since studios keep about half of their films’ ticket sales, Warner Bros. is likely to break even on the theatrical run of “Half-Blood Prince” and profit handsomely on the DVD and in other markets.”

A new set of videos have been released online showing raw footage from the filming of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It is a 3 part series of videos and a very fun watch! Embedding has been disabled so just click the images below to view the videos 🙂 You can also click here, here and here!

Thanks HPP!

MakeupMag has a new interview with Nick Dudman, a make-up artist for the Potter films, and he talks about Fenrir Greyback.

In terms of actual make-up, Greyback is the film’s biggest creation, which Dudman and his team have designed as a seven-piece silicone prosthetic. “He’s a character with a great deal of fine hair all over him,” Dudman explained. “In the old days, if you were doing a werewolf, you would just lay loose hair on an actor, but nowadays the camera would pick that up, plus it’s such a coarse technique, it would be different every day.

“What we’ve done is punch fine goat hair into the pieces and pre-paint them, so when we apply the make-up, it won’t take as long. Because the hair has been punched, there’s no glue, so the movement will be freer. The reason we use fur is because it’s tapered and very fine. If you use human hair, yak or any other hair, because it’s been cut, it’s the same length at both ends and has a coarser flavor, whereas fur sits nicely close to the skin.

“The reason we’ve designed the make-up in seven pieces, including the ears, is that if it was just two pieces, maneuvering the silicone into position and gluing it accurately would become very difficult, so you choose sizes that you can manipulate and to allow a time frame that makes the make-up practical.”

Thanks SS!

Thanks to Oclumencia we have a bunch of new high resolution photos from Half-Blood Prince and Order of the Phoenix!

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – x9
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – x12

Also thanks to So-Bonnie I have added a few new photos of Bonnie from Order of the Phoenix! (same link)

Access Hollywood got a tour of the Knockturn Alley set for Half-Blood Prince, and there are interviews with Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Tom Felton.